Lindsey Bauer, a senior at West Central, displays some of the souvenirs she brought back from Europe.

Lions Club sponsors International Exchange

When West Central senior Lindsey Bauer went back to school last week, she took along memories from her summer she is not soon to forget.

Lindsey recently returned from a six-week stay in Europe, thanks to the Lions Club International Youth Exchange. The rural Hawkeye teen applied for the program, was accepted and was able to tour some of Europe's finest offerings, courtesy of the Hawkeye Lions Club.

"It was awesome!" she said hardly able to contain her excitement. "I will definitely go back; I can't wait to go back."

Lindsey and her parents, Gary and Ronda Robinson, first heard about the youth exchange from their insurance agent, Bill Tjaden, who belongs to the Lions Club in Cedar Falls. Lindsey applied for the program in November and, once accepted, was told she could pick three countries to visit.

"Me and another girl chose Finland as our host country," she explained. "But there were lots of kids from all over and three adults, and we all left from the Minneapolis airport on June 27."

One of Lindsey's first experiences took her on an early morning tour of Iceland. The 5 a.m. Icelandic excursion was an eye-opener for the young Iowa farm girl.

"Iceland really looks like a big rock," she said. "There are very few, if any, trees and I think there is only one bigger city, and that is Reykjavik."

The temperatures on the coast were cooler, she says, but she relished the chance to swim in the Blue Lagoon. From Reykjavik, Iceland, the group of sponsored students remained together and went on to London, where they were awarded extra time because of a train strike.

"We went to Buckingham Palace and witnessed the changing of the guards," Lindsey shared. "They really do not even meet your gaze, I mean, they were strictly business." Lindsey and her peers walked extensively in London. They visited the London Eye and had the opportunity to ride double-decker buses. From London, Lindsey traveled to Belgium via the Eurostar train, which took her under the English Channel. "We were stranded in Brussels for a night, so we stayed at a hotel instead of a youth hostel," she explained. "The hotel was a lot more expensive, and the youth hostels were really cheap. They were set up like shelters, and we could buy memberships to them." From Brussels, the teens and their chaperones took the train to Brugge, where the highlight was, according to Lindsey, "definitely the Belgian chocolate. It reminded me of a medieval city with cobblestone streets everywhere," she said. Next they traveled to the city of Ostende, along the North Sea, where the open fish markets offered their own form of entertainment. "I had never seen some of that stuff before. We saw eels and octopus and, of course, whole fish laying out there...the smell was interesting, too," she recalled with a laugh. In the town square the streets were narrow, she says, and filled with restaurants, colorful shops and Gothic buildings.

Later, the train took Lindsey and the few remaining students who had not yet connected with their host families to Paris, France. Here the wide-eyed teen tourist had the opportunity to visit Artists' Hill, where she posed for a portrait while visiting with the artist, who promptly sold her the quaint, charcoal rendition.

"We had extra time in Paris, so we stopped to buy stuff, had crepes, and walked up the Eiffel Tower," Lindsey related.

According to her experience, tourists are charged more money at each level of the tower. Visitors are given the opportunity to ride the elevator up, but, Lindsey said, it is more costly. "We went as far up as we could," she said with light laughter, "until we just didn't want to pay any more. It was awesome to walk up it, though."

The ardent young woman continued her journey with a tour of the Notre-Dame Cathedral. She was in awe of the arched ceilings and the stained glass windows, especially the famous rose window.

Finally, it was time to fly to Finland to meet up with her host family. Lindsey flew to Helsinki, where her luggage was lost temporarily.

"My host family was so nice," she said fondly. "They helped me with the lost luggage, took me shopping and made me feel at home." Lindsey stayed in the home of Lasse and Kirsti Linkoneza in the town of Toyvala, near Kuopio, located in the southern one-third of the country. She shared their home with their two daughters, 17-year-old Krista and 11-year-old Camilla.

"Every house has a sauna," recalled Lindsey. "Every night we sat in the sauna, though they said they usually have it hotter than what they did for me."

The Finnish people claim the sauna is good for the skin and alternate the steamy therapy with refreshing ice-cold baths. The almost 24-hour daylight that permeates Finland this time of year was a little uncomfortable at first, but Lindsey says she soon got used to it and slept until noon with her host siblings.

"They have a big meal at noon, and it is so cool how family-oriented they are," she said. "They make sure to eat one meal all together, have a light meal at around seven in the evening, and a snack around midnight."

Lindsey experienced a Finnish wedding during her stay. She said the ceremony was very formal, shorter than most American weddings, and she witnessed an eccentric tradition that dictates the head of the newly formed household. "Whoever stomps their foot first is considered the head of the household," she explained with a smile.

Lindsey parted company with her host family for a short time while she attended the Lions weekend youth camp in Kiuruvesi, Finland. Here, she joined other students from all over the world to learn about Finnish customs and experience multicultural events and relationships.

"We learned to play Finnish baseball, which is very different from American ball," she said. "Once we learned the rules of the game, we got to go see one. It was very fast-moving."

Lindsey and her campmates went orienteering in the rich Finnish forests, and she said there are lakes around every corner.

The camp itself consists of little apartment-like dwellings. Lindsey had a German roommate and met other young people from California, England, Italy, Sweden, Poland, Switzerland, Turkey, Israel, Germany, Holland, Portugal, Greece and many more national and international locations.

"Everyone speaks English," she said gratefully. "It is amazing. When I went out shopping, they spoke English to me immediately, and everyone was so kind."

While at the camp. Lindsey went fishing for salmon and ate what she caught. She learned indigenous dances, went tubing down an indoor ski slope, played floorball, volleyball, badminton and basketball. She also rode horses and swam on occasion.

"My host sisters love to shop, so they took me everywhere," Lindsey said of her final days in Europe. "One thing I noticed while we were out is that many of them rollerblade on the streets with ski poles."

Lindsey was taken to Helsinki for a few days before she had to depart for home. "We did tons of shopping," she says. "There were ice cream shops everywhere. They eat a lot of ice cream, bread, cheese and cucumbers with everything."

According to Lindsey, reindeer meat and rainbow trout are also common staples in Finnish households. Lindsey arrived home August 6 and said she is anxious to return to the picturesque country.

"I would go back so fast, if I could. Everyone was so friendly," she said, still bubbling from the retelling of her trip.

Lindsey expressed gratitude to the Hawkeye Lions Club, whose generous sponsorship made her trip possible, and to Bill Tjaden for alerting her and her family to this awesome opportunity.